Posts for FractalFusion

Posted: 12/5/2007 9:53 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Ground Man finished. I saved 26 seconds (only 3 seconds of which were from the boss). Guess how I saved the rest of the time. I estimate my run to be about 1:18 faster at this point. That's 1 minute, 18 seconds.

Posted: 12/4/2007 8:53 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Bisqwit wrote:

You should almost never use %%%.

Many users use a lot of %%%; me included. It's the only way to line break without starting a new paragraph.

Posted: 12/3/2007 11:54 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I do this: 1) Place the desired ROMs in the folder with GoodGBA. 2) Make a file, using Notepad. The file is named "rename.bat" (only .bat part is important) and contains one line: "start /wait goodgba rename". 3) Run "rename.bat". 4) GoodGBA should take all your ROMs, rename them, and move them to a "GBARen" folder.

Posted: 12/1/2007 9:19 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I think 'earliest' is probably the more relevant word in this case. After all, not so much happened in 2004 (that I can recall). I also removed reference to the word "trivia". If it is important to write something, we should make it look important. [/personalopinion] I didn't mean to sound condescending in my previous post. So if I offended anyone, I apologize.

Posted: 12/1/2007 7:42 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I'll leave it for others now. I've been acting like a mathematician (because I am).

Posted: 12/1/2007 7:36 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Is it already represented in binary? Or base 4, 8, 16? Base 2^n? I mean, it is easy to say "write N in binary, and if (and only if) it is of the form 10000...0, then it is a power of 2". Note the key word is 'say'.

Posted: 12/1/2007 7:28 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Loop with multiplication allowed? Multiply 2 by itself over and over until it is greater than or equal to N. If the result is equal to N, then yes, it is a power of two; otherwise, no. P.S. Oh, actually you only need to square 2 by itself over and over, and multiply terms to get the appropriate power.

Posted: 12/1/2007 7:17 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Bisqwit wrote:

EDIT: Identical desync on Intel (and true Windows) as well.

Which Windows is it? It worked on every Windows computer I tried. My system:

Did you run DOSBox with any special parameters? (i.e. "dosbox -xxx") Does it have any special parameters?

Posted: 12/1/2007 7:03 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

AKA from an editor summary wrote:

I still object to the second paragraph. Why do we need to know or care? How do we even know its true? Why is it a good thing? The time taken to create a movie does not equal effort or a better run in general. We should avoid trying to promote authors over movies

---- On the 2.5-years-working-on-TAS issue, how do we know that most of those 2.5 years were well-spent? How do we know that the author didn't just TAS for one month, abandon it for >2 years, and come back and finish it? In the author's own words, georgexi "worked on it on and off but didn't get around to completing until recently". In any case, rerecord count is yet more important than TAS project time. Also, the phrase "longest-term projects to date" seems to imply that these projects were planned for the long term, which is never the case.

Posted: 11/29/2007 9:53 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

ShadowWraith wrote:

Is there an AVI available of this anywhere? I don't have Commander Keen 6 so I can't watch the movie file. :(

Sorry, but I had a really bad day (in terms of computing) yesterday. No AVI for you. OK, I'm just joking, but I am unable to produce an AVI, and probably never will. To make an AVI (even disregarding movie speed), I need to: - screencap (Fraps and Camtasia cost $$$$ and Camstudio can't cope). - go to a Linux, compile DOSBox (I haven't even succeeded; "make" has problems with this one .cpp file), run the movie, and hope it syncs. - get someone with a Linux DOSBox to run the movie, and hope it syncs. Or another option is to borrow Bisqwit's computer and start TASing. :)

Phallosvogel wrote:

desynchs when entering the name of the creature for me...

Not good news, but I couldn't thank you more for giving feedback.

Posted: 11/29/2007 9:32 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

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Posts: 3247

Bisqwit wrote:

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.

Sorry for deleting the message from my read-only crisis. I had tried playing it, expecting the movie to desync one second in. I was wrong. What happened was that, because the executable was read-only, the entire DOSBox froze when it tried to run starcon2. It gave something like "Access denied" in the status window and "Enter directory for STARCON.EXE (Enter to quit)" in the other. The situation occurred multiple times, hanging the whole computer, and I had to use the emergency shutoff once. At least I fixed that little problem[/understatement], and now what I had expected at first is now occurring. I believe I have all the files listed (and only those), and I renamed starcon2.exb to starcon2.exe. You did mention that even different timestamps can cause desync. Is there a way to change the timestamp to a specific date?

Posted: 11/29/2007 5:33 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

You mean the one with the "RawCopy PC TSR Patch" thing? Delete Keen6.com and config.ck6.

Posted: 11/29/2007 5:22 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

HHS wrote:

ln(x) is defined for the entire complex plane except at x=0, and is in fact injective

Yes, there is such a complex function, but it is either non-continuous, or requires a branch cut (i.e. all complex z for which Re(z)<=0 and Im(z)=0). This ln(x) HHS is talking about is the complex ln(z), not the real ln(x), and it makes no sense to say "[real] ln(x) does not exist if x is imaginary" even though it is true by default. On the other hand, saying "ln(x) does not exist if x<=0" makes sense. Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multivalued_function for a description of a "function" that maps to multiple values. What it actually is is a function (in the correct sense) that maps a value to a set of values.

Posted: 11/29/2007 2:55 AM
(Edited: 11/29/2007 9:33 PM)

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I'm trying to replay this on the DOSBox recording emulator (Windows, both a5 and a3) but I'm getting an unexpected problem. Edit: OK, scratch that, all the files were read-only; I thought it wouldn't matter since this DOSBox cannot write anything. Now, I'm trying to find a way past the star-naming screen at the beginning. It's giving the wrong star (compared with the AVI). P.S. I already did see a little of the AVI, and the AVI lost my attention.

Posted: 11/28/2007 8:30 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I fixed the top link now. Looks like my attempt to hotlink a file on a commercial site failed miserably. I figured out that DOSBox only crashes on resume savestate if you do it first thing. If you let the movie run a bit and then resume, it will work (although if you do it at the DOS prompt, it will give video garbage). So it looks like a long game may be feasible now. :) Strangely, I ran the movie on my other slower computer (Win 98) and it synced perfectly. Even more strangely, saving states there took as little as 2 or 3 seconds, despite an increase in loading times as well as really slow playback. The only thing left is to test it on a Linux.

Posted: 11/28/2007 8:23 AM
(Edited: 11/28/2007 8:31 PM)

Post subject: Commander Keen 6 (TAS)

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Commander Keen 6 TAS (Easy mode) (link fixed) I am not even sure of the movie time, but since I calculated Bisqwit's Star Control II TAS to be ~90.92 fps (191257/2103.5 ~ 90.92), I assume my movie is about 4:18 long (23415/90.92 ~ 257.5). For comparison, non-assisted speedrun stands at 4:52, not counting pre-time or post-time. The movie extensively uses the "impossible bullet" trick which is basically standing in mid-air after landing on a shot sprite. Shooting upward allows Keen to ride the bullet upward, and then it is possible to warp through some ceilings and walls (may be necessary to duck). The level is considered beaten if you glitch through the side of a level, but any necessary in-level trigger must be touched or the game will be stuck. The previous shot must be cleared before Keen can "ride the bullet". In the second level, I wait because glitching the level end didn't seem to work for a while. There are possible improvements, and I may attempt another version. Both the movie file (movie.dof) and the corresponding dosbox.conf are included. Note that mouse "sensitivity=0" is required in dosbox.conf (the game goes crazy otherwise). Playing back movie file: I used DOSBox rerecording version a5 (Windows). The folder should look somewhat like this:

(Hint: Make a new folder) In other words, the following files must be present: (DOSBox) - dosbox.exe - dosbox.conf - movie.dof (Keen 6) - Keen6.exe - Audio.ck6 - Egagraph.ck6 - Gamemaps.ck6 Keen6.exe must not be a cracked version. It must not begin with spam. It must ask for the name of an enemy after starting a game. The following files must not be present: - Keen6.com (Keen 6 crack) - config.ck6 - Savegam* (Probably irrelevant but why keep them?) Also, make sure to download Keen 6 and not Keen 6 demo. I may make DOS TASes for other short games (Keen 1, Keen 3, Keen Dreams, Sierra adventure games). Long games are out of the equation due to DOSBox struggles. I cannot resume from a savestate; doing so causes a crash. So I must play the movie from the very beginning. Add to that the forced reset rate being very high (mostly caused by video freezing but may also be caused by failure to turn off read-only or accidental movie stoppage) and saves taking 15s each. P.S. This is also intended to be an inquiry into the reliability of DOSBox movies. For Star Control II, I'm pretty sure that of everybody who watched, only one person watched the movie in the emulator.

Posted: 11/23/2007 7:47 PM
(Edited: 6/4/2022 4:53 PM)

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I forgot to ask this for a while, but will Windows AVI recording be implemented? I checked the source code and the answer is not currently.

Sanitars wrote:

Sup?

Posted: 11/23/2007 5:00 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I'm using Rockman & Forte (J).smc. I don't know if it is an actual GoodSNES name.

Posted: 11/22/2007 10:01 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Dynamo Man done: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/243193640/RnF%20FractalFusion%20dynamoman%20done.smv I saved about 2 seconds in level (excluding boss) despite taking damage and having no Tengu Blade. Against the boss, I saved about 10.5 seconds, because of Counter.

Posted: 11/22/2007 12:45 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I have to laugh at strikes in Canada: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070907/vancouver_strike_070907/20070908?hub=TopStories The garbage strike lasted almost 3 months. It's actually sad how easily Canadian unions can force employers to pay them more.

Posted: 11/20/2007 2:14 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

I finished off Astro Man (in style). About 4 seconds have been saved in that level, so now the run is 10 seconds faster than my last, and well over half a minute faster than published. I was wrong about glitching above a boss room not saving time. That's exactly what I did to Astro Man. It is not necessary to use two Ice Walls; the ceiling is barely low enough. However, there must be no Ice Wall remaining after the boss is defeated; otherwise it causes delay.

Posted: 11/17/2007 11:10 PM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

AKA, the D-Pad buttons only take up one half byte. 4th byte: 0x000000FF Analog Y 3rd byte: 0x0000FF00 Analog X 2nd byte: 0x00010000 C-Right 0x00020000 C-Left 0x00040000 C-Down 0x00080000 C-Up 0x00100000 R 0x00200000 L 1st byte: 0x01000000 Digital Pad Right 0x02000000 Digital Pad Left 0x04000000 Digital Pad Down 0x08000000 Digital Pad Up 0x10000000 Start 0x20000000 Z 0x40000000 B 0x80000000 A

Warp wrote:

Actually there's no technical reason why the button states could not be stored in the file with as few bits as possible.

There is. Reserved bits are safeguards in case you need to put some other function in there (for example, reset).

Posted: 11/17/2007 8:23 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Burner Man's stage done again, with the run about 6 seconds faster than my last run. In fact, since hex-editing was successful, and I am not changing Pirate Man's stage: Pirate Man's stage done again, with the run about 6 seconds faster than my last run. Astro Man's stage is not done, despite syncing correctly. By the way, glitching above a boss room (i.e. Astro Man's room) while beating a boss saves 16 frames on the warp out. Unfortunately, it takes too much time to cancel an Ice Wall. http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/230024141/Rockman%20%26%20Forte%20%28J%29%20glitch6.smv

Posted: 11/14/2007 5:08 AM

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Almost all games are hard enough even at 100% speed. Although I don't really speedrun games, I do play Pokemon games at 200% speed. There's also a game that has a really stupid DDR-like minigame; I play it on 200% speed because it's fun that way, and I can't wait to get past it.

Posted: 11/13/2007 8:00 AM
(Edited: 11/17/2007 8:23 AM)

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FractalFusion

Editor, Experienced Forum User, Published Author, Skilled player (1941)

Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3247

Since I won't be using this, I might as well post it. Astroman: http://dehacked.2y.net/microstorage.php/info/582199058/Rockman%20%26%20Forte%20%28J%29.smv By the way, I found how to get into an upper-left corner with Ice Wall, but it apparently requires entering and exiting the sub-menu.